Motivational Speech for eCommerce Merchants and Developers about the Importance of Taking Risks

This inspirational post is written by Justin Butlion exclusively for eCommerce & Magento merchants and developers who regularly read aheadWorks blog. Justin Butlion is the Content and Social Marketing Manager of Yotpo*.
Justin loves to blog about eCommerce, online marketing, web development, and entrepreneurship.

Our world is full of choices. What should we eat for breakfast? Where should we go on vacation? Every choice leads to a decision, and each decision to an outcome. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we make these decisions based on our perceived benefits from each possible choice.

In the eCommerce world the “benefits” that we are focusing on are increased sales, and increased profit. We want to make money, and each business choice that we make should bring us to that end. But seeing what is going to lead us to make the most money isn’t always easy, and sometimes even when we see a great opportunity, we shy away.

Why is that? Generally, it’s because we’re scared; we can’t risk it.



Most of us have heard the expression “the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward”. But in the world of eCommerce it’s more accurate to say: you are risking the most, when you don’t risk anything at all.

The biggest opportunities that will come to you will never be risk free. ECommerce is constantly changing. It’s adapting, growing, and evolving. And the thing about business evolution is that if you don’t evolve, you go extinct. That’s the risk of not taking risks. That’s what is going to happen when you stick with what you have and you don’t move forward with the new technologies that are coming out.

Don’t be fooled: new technologies are coming out. Don’t think that because you haven’t necessarily heard of the next brilliant idea, it’s not out there being developed right now or even being used by your competitors.

Working at a startup in Israel, commonly coined the “start-up nation”, I see people working day in and day out trying to grow and build: trying to change and improve eCommerce for everyone. I’m immersed in the startup world and I see tech startups not only in Silicon Valley or Tel Aviv. In fact, a recent article in the Economist spoke about the growing number of startups all around the Middle East.

Some of these startups, with their new ideas and technology, are surprisingly easy to access – some are right under your nose! Just take a quick look at the Magento Extension Marketplace. It’s full of amazing applications that you can add to your website to bring major improvements.

But there’s a risk. You have to invest time and effort into looking through the extensions, installing the ones you like, and getting them fully up and running.

Today, I say that you have to be able to risk some of your time. You need to look not at where you are now, but at where you can be. You have to be willing to spend some time looking to expand and improve. It’s a small risk, but with it comes the possibility of a remarkable reward. Moreover, the lack of taking that risk can be a major disadvantage.

The more complacent and risk-averse you become, the more likely a young competitor will come in and reap the rewards you missed out on, and you’ll be left in the dust.

The best part about realizing all this is that you can be that young competitor. Don’t wait to hear about the next best thing on the news once everyone is using it. Take the competitive advantage of using the latest and greatest technologies, see how you can grow, and don’t be afraid to take some risks along the way!

*Yotpo is a plug and play social reviews solution for eCommerce websites. You can contact Justin Butlion directly at [email protected].